Parents say: How to get your child to take medicine

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my pharmacist told me about considering some flavoring drops.i bought some drops from flavorplus because my son always gives me a hard time and spits out this medication and i get sooo frustrated.i was kind of sckeptical at first but my baby really like the taste of this grape flavor, he actually want me to give him medicine now! Thanks to my pharmacist advice my hustle of trying to give her the medicine is gone. I recommend it!

My older daughter did not like the taste of medicine. We found it much easier to give the "grown up" capsules or pills (obviously making sure they were the correct dosage for her). We never hid them. We told her it was necessary and explained that they were sized to go down the throat without a problem but some people need to get used to how it feels. We started by putting them on a spoonful of her favorite ice cream. The first time it took a few attempts. Then she was able to swallow it right down. Then we graduated to trying it with water and following it with ice cream. Now she takes them with just water - never any problems. It was much easier for us than trying to choke down large quantities of the despised liquid or chewable pills.

I switched to pills as soon as possible w/my older son - much easier because you can get them down without tasting them. Have them get the pill and drink in their mouth, then tip their head back and swallow. Gravity helps the pill go down! (With a capsule, they shouldn't tilt their head back but forward - a capsule floats!) Whether it's a yucky liquid/chewable or a pill, offer a small treat after to get rid of the taste and unhappy feelings! Have the treat right there - more meaningful than just telling them, especially for a very young child. I used choc. kisses or "miniature" chocolate bars.

I'm lucky...both my kids like to take medicine. My 6yr old had to take the yucky white chalky one a few times, and at first I tried to hide it in yogurt or juice because it was so yucky. He would end up wasting the yogurt or juice and the medicine. Finally, I just tried giving it to him straight and he prefers taking it that way, with some water. Quick and simple! My 2yr old has not been sick alot so she's only taken the pink one and she always wants more. Thank God for child proof bottles!
-Sandi

We are in the midst of three weeks of a horrible antibiotic. Even the pharmacy staff said it was terrible. The pediatrician recommended a teaspoon of chocolate syrup or peanut butter first, then the medicine, then another teaspoon of the syrup or peanut butter. The syrup or peanut butter coat the tongue and block the taste. It works!

We discovered with our granddaughter that sometimes letting her take it in a different, and sometimes silly location (standing in the bathtub, or on the front porch, or sitting on the washing machine) helps. She is more focused on getting to do something silly then the actual medicine.

My son has to take a particularly disgusting liquid once a day. I have tried flavoring from the pharmacy and that seems to make it worse. I give him about a 1/2 inch in the juice glass of either sugar free lemonade or a small amount of diet orange soda, which is the only soda that I drink in the house and not very often. He only drinks water not because that is all I have allowed him to have, but that is what he prefers. Works for me.

At the height of his illness, my 7 year old had to take 15 tablets a day, and it was pure hell to get even one down him, so I have some experience here...

First, have you tasted the pill? I (sadly) didn't believe my son when he threw the mother of all hissies at the taste of flagyl (metronidazole) even though we had cut it with a generous amount of chocolate pudding (and yoghurt and honey and anything else we could think of).

Finally I tasted it myself, and *I* threw the mother of all hissies. It was impossibly horrible. I wouldn't have got it down either.

Why flagyl is not a coated pill, I will never understand, but nothing we could find masked the taste.

Finally, many tearful days for all of us later, we wrapped it in bread (squishing the bread so the pill itself wasn't too much larger than it had started out) and that worked.

For capsule resistance, we have had success with tucking it into a small bite of jello and saying "just inhale"!.

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